3 main Warden changes in Minecraft snapshot 22w17a

In the latest Minecraft snapshot 22w17a, the Warden mob has been changed in several aspects, which makes the mob even stronger than it was before. When the mob was first introduced back in 2020, players were surprised to see how powerful the Warden was. However, it is now clear that Mojang is intentionally strengthening it to force players to avoid it.

The mob is a part of the highly-anticipated The Wild Update 1.19. The update will feature two brand new biomes, along with four different mobs (including Warden), several items, enchantments, effects, advancements, etc. These snapshots, which are released every week, ensure that whatever the game developers are adding or changing does not come with any bugs or flaws.

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All three changes made to the Warden in Minecraft snapshot 22w17a

1) New ranged attack will now penetrate shields and armor

The death message has also been updated (Image via Minecraft snapshot 22w17a)

This is one of the most significant changes in the Minecraft snapshot 22w17a. In the previous snapshot, a new ranged attack was added to the Warden, which could heavily damage players and other mobs that are beyond its reach. However, this attack could be easily blocked by shields, and players were able to defeat the mob with loads of shields.

However, Mojang has patched the feature and now its ranged attack can penetrate not only shields, but armor as well. This makes defeating the mob almost impossible as players will have to simply run or prevent the mob from spawning. With this update, there is absolutely no way to face its attack head-on.

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2) New ranged attack damage reduced

The attack does 5 hearts of damage (Image via Minecraft snapshot 22w17a)

After allowing the ranged attack to penetrate through everything, Mojang tried to balance this buff with a nerf on the damage it can deal. Currently, the ranged attack can only deal up to 10 HPs of damage, instead of 30 HP, which was the damage power in the previous snapshot. This means that the attack will only deal 5 hearts of damage. However, it can't be reduced as the attack goes through armor.

This essentially balances the changes while still proving that the Warden is to be avoided and should not be fought head on. Many players who were trying to fight the mob will now think twice in the Minecraft snapshot 22w17a.

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3) The mob will drop sculk catalyst upon death

The mob dies and drops sculk catalyst (Image via Minecraft snapshot 22w17a)

This might come as a funny surprise to most players, but in the Minecraft snapshot 22w17a, the Warden will now drop one sculk catalyst when it dies. Since the mob was first introduced, players were eager to know what the beast dropped. However, they were sad to learn that it only dropped a few XP points upon death.

This time, Mojang funnily added a drop item to the mob, which is one sculk catalyst block. However, it might be as a joke because the sculk catalyst block is quite common in the Deep Dark Biome and can be easily mined with a silk touch hoe. Although no one knows if this will be released in the final update, it is still a weird drop to add to the most terrifying mob the game has ever seen.